1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus having a function of combining a plurality of images, a camera apparatus, an image processing method and a program.
2. Description of Related Art
A method of imaging a plurality of times in different directions from a point by setting the camera to a telescope is known to obtain a wide-angle and high-definition photograph.
As a method of combining the images, there have been proposed methods where a lens correction coefficient is found, and combining processing is performed based on the lens correction coefficient. This is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3557168 (hereinafter referred to as “patent document 1”), Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications No. 2003-259110 (hereinafter referred to as “patent document 2”) and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-358933 (hereinafter referred to as “patent document 3”).
In the technique disclosed in the patent document 1, based on two images taken, the coordinates of a plurality of corresponding points between the two images are found, and a coefficient of geometrical transform between the two images are calculated. Then, a lens distortion coefficient is calculated based on the coordinates of the corresponding points and the coefficient of geometrical transform.
In the technique disclosed in the patent document 2, the tilting angles of input images with respect to paper surface and an object are found, and the tilting of the respective input images are corrected based on these tilting angles. An overlapping position between the two images is detected by using the corrected input images, or images from which the data amount of the corrected input images have been decreased. The two input images are connected at the detected overlapping position.
In the technique disclosed in the patent document 3, reference points of an image combining are specified for each of a plurality of image data, and the scales and the rotation angles of the images are calculated based on the reference points. The image data are reduced and rotated for connection by using the calculated scale and rotation angle.